"Ah, here comes the birthday boy!"

Just hearing these words come from Mrs. Weasley's mouth was enough to stop him in his tracks. He had suspected the day would open like this, with everyone wanting to talk to him and celebrate with him, when all Harry really wanted to do was sleep. When he had woken up, he had been reminded of Bill and Fleur's wedding the previous summer, and how much that - until, of course, the arrival of the Death Eaters - had lifted everyone's spirits in those dark times. They were all trying to do the same that day. They were trying to turn Harry's Birthday into Bill and Fleur's wedding. Harry knew they didn't mean to upset him, but he didn't want to celebrate. The war had been months ago, Harry knew that, but he was still grieving. They all were. The effects of the war had left their mark on Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys more than it had on most other people, and Harry had no idea how long it would take for that pain to end.

"Harry, dear, are you all right?" Molly called up as Harry continued to stare blankly into space on the stairs.

"Oh, um, yes! Yeah, thanks, everyone." Harry carried on walking and grinned at everyone.

The Weasleys and Hermione were gathered in the kitchen of the Burrow, smiling at him. Harry was glad to see them all there, despite their reason, and grinned even wider at the banner that was strung above the stove that said 'Happy Birthday, Harry!' in slightly wobbly writing.

"Sleep well, mate?" Ron asked with a smirk,"It's only half eleven, you know. There's still time to go back to bed, if you want."

"I'm all right, thanks." Harry told him, trying not to sound irritable.

"Breakfast, everyone!" Molly called in a sing-sing voice, even though everyone was already staring at her impatiently as she began plating up the food.

In a matter of seconds, Harry's plate was piled with a mountain of food that he could barely see over, and he tucked in gratefully.

After breakfast, Molly led everyone into the living room to give Harry his presents. Harry sat down next to Hermione (who, Harry noticed with a smile, was wearing the burgundy jumper he had once gotten her) on the sofa as people began thrusting presents at him from every direction. Laughing, Harry took Ron's first. It was a bar of Shock-o-Choc and and a belt with a strange leather pouch attached to it.

"What-?" Harry started.

"It's a wand pocket." Ron explained,"You use it like a belt but your wand goes in it, too, see?"

"Oh, like a sheath, but for a wand?"

"What's a sheath?"

"Nevermind." Harry said quickly, pulling out his wand. He slotted it into the pouch, but it did not fit at all.

Ron's ears went red,"Oh yeah...um...I wasn't sure what size your wand was, so I guessed. Sorry about that."

"That's all right." Harry, who knew he would probably never have used it anyway, assured him,"Er...how long is it?"

"Nine inches, I think. Maybe nine and a half...dunno."

"Thanks, mate." Harry said,"At least it'll look nice as a belt, eh? I can still use it."

The rest of the present giving went very much the same way, and it wasn't long before Harry had received a gift from everyone apart from Hermione.

"Oh, she's been really secretive about her gift." Ron rolled his eyes when Harry turned to Hermione expectantly,"Won't tell anyone what she's got you, and she said she didn't want you to open it in front of any of us."

Harry looked at Hermione. She was trying very hard not to look directly at him, and going a little pink.

"Come on, then." Harry told her,"Lets go upstairs. I'm all excited now!" The pair stood up and Harry followed Hermione to the stairs,"Thanks again, everyone!"

Once the pair had made it into Ron's attic room, Hermione shut the door. Without a word, she sat down on Harry's camp bed and gestured for him to sit down next to her. She reached into her beaded bag and pulled out a burgundy leather book.

"Happy Birthday." She said with a small smile, handing Harry the book carefully.

Harry opened the book and realised at once that it was a photo album. The front page had something written on it.

Dear Harry,

A few weeks after the war, Dennis Creevey wrote to me to tell me that he had been looking through Colin's old photos and had discovered that most of them had been of us. He sent them to me and asked if I wanted him to find some more. I told him I did and begun to put this book together as a gift to you. I don't ever want you to forget how much I love you, which is why I have made this book as a sort of timeline of our memories. I hope you love reading it as much as I loved making it!

         You will always be good enough for me,
Love always, Hermione xoxo

"Hermione..." Harry breathed in disbelief.

"You haven't even looked at it yet!" Hermione told him with a smile.

Careful not to damage the parchment, Harry turned the page.

Harry laughed,"Brilliant! You know, you almost knocked me over with that hug!"

"Well, that was my intention." Hermione laughed, too,"Sorry, though."

"Don't be, it was kind of fun!"

"Hermione," Harry's eyes fell on the pair's locked hands as he felt his heart melt a little,"that's...I-I honestly forgot..."

"So did I." Hermione nodded quite seriously.

As he turned the page, Harry gasped,"Colin wasn't there, was he?"

"I didn't see him watching us, either...maybe he was hiding." Hermione suggested.

"Or maybe we just couldn't see the camera flash because of all the snow." Harry grinned.

Hermione laughed,"Or maybe that."

"Was he there, too?" Harry gaped at the picture of himself in the hospital wing.

"Oh, I think I remember him being there." Hermione nodded slowly,"There were quite a few people, and he was very small, so he'd have been easy to miss. I'm sure I kept telling him to put his camera down, as well."

"Sounds about right."

Harry grinned,"Ah, now, this I remember. He got us to stand there so he could take our picture, didn't he? But...wait, isn't that Ron's shoulder over the top of mine?"

"Oh, well, yes." Hermione fidgeted uncomfortably,"Its just...I liked the photo, and I didn't think cutting Ron out would make it look too bad..."

"Well, well just have to make sure he doesn't see this one."

Hermione laughed,"Good idea."

"What?" Harry said, bemused,"How did Colin have this?"

"Oh, well, he didn't." Hermione cringed a little as she spoke,"You see, I sort of kept the issue of the Prophet Rita published this in and...and cut the photo out of it."

Harry grinned at her,"That makes more sense."

"Oh, Harry, don't look at me like that!" Hermione said, smacking his arm,"The article was kind of sweet if you took out all of the horrid parts." At Harry's unchanging look of amusement, she explained with a sigh,"I liked to hope, all right? I used that article as a little line of hope that something might...you know...happen between us."

"And it did." Harry told her.

"And it did." Hermione agreed.

"Blimey, you can tell we were having a good time there, can't you?" Harry grinned.

"Well, you can't blame us." Hermione said,"That was the day after you'd asked me to the Yule Ball, I think."

"And why would we have been unhappy then-? Oh, yeah." Harry suddenly remembered how stupid he had been back then, asking Hermione to the Ball as 'just friends'.

"I still had a good time." Hermione said quickly,"And you can't really complain, I mean, look how that whole fiasco turned out for us!"

"Yeah, I s'pose you're right."

Hermione grinned,"Harry, when am I ever not right?"

"Hmm, let me think..." Harry smirked, beginning to count on his fingers,"when I didn't put any Liquid Luck in Ron's pumpkin juice...when you thought you knew better than the Liquid Luck...when you thought people would want to join the DA rather than hear about how Cedric Diggory got killed...when you thought your parents didn't love you...and when you thought you'd ever lose me to someone else-"

"All right, all right," Hermione said quickly, hiding a smile,"but how many times have I been right?"

"Er...well...just about every single other time in our lives."

"Exactly." Hermione nodded as Harry turned the page with a chuckle.

"How was Colin even allowed at the Ball?" Harry asked

"I don't think he was." Hermione shook her head, trying to hide her huge smile,"Oh, look at you in those robes, weren't you adorable?"

Harry felt himself go red as a smile played on his lips,"Hermione, stop, I look like a...like a well dressed sack of potatoes!"

Hermione burst into laughter,"Harry, don't say that! You look wonderful, trust me, you always do."

"Thanks."

Hermione buried her face in Harry's shoulder as she turned bright red. Harry stroked her hair.

"Aw!" Harry couldn't help but beam at the picture.

Hermione went pink and cleared her throat, lifting her head up from Harry's shoulder and tilting it to one side,"We look a lot younger there, don't we?"

"Yeah, you're right."

"Ha!" Hermione beamed triumphantly,"Ha! You see? I'm always right!"

Harry nudged her in the ribs,"Hey! I was really worried about you then, you know? I though you were going to die."

"Dumbledore wouldn't have let that happen."

"Yeah, I-I know..." Harry mumbled, trying to hide his surprise at this fact that he had clearly missed.

Hermione laughed,"Oh, Harry, how many times have I told you not to be so thick?"

"Too many." Harry agreed with a sigh.

"Bloody hell, Hermione, where did you find this monstrosity?"

Hermione laughed,"Harry - oh, Harry! - look at your face! Oh, it's brilliant, Harry!"

"Yeah, thanks." Harry chuckled, turning the page.

"There!" Harry gave a shout of laughter,"Look a your face!"

Hermione doubled over with laughter,"No! I...no!"

"You made the album!" Harry laughed,"Why'd you put it in if you didn't like it?"

"Be-because," Hermione gasped for breath through her laughter,"we...are holding...hands!"

"Ah, I see." Harry nodded, taking in the picture,"I think I remember Colin asking us to pose for that one, too, actually. Yeah, he got all excited when he'd taken it, and he wouldn't let us see. Now I know why!"

"Stop it! Stop!" Hermione tried to hit Harry in the chest weakly, so Harry took her hand and kissed her knuckle to stop her. Hermione calmed down a little, but she kept giggling quietly to herself.

"I...when was...what?" Harry stammered, peering at the picture closely.

"That was the day after the Tournament." Hermione told him, calming down completely,"You were really upset, and I couldn't stand seeing you like that so I went over to you to cheer you up, remember? That's somewhere near the Owlery, I think, on the edge of the Forest." She frowned,"I had no idea Colin was there..."

"Oh, I remember that." Harry said slowly,"That was in the Hog's Head, wasn't it?"

Hermione nodded,"I remember, too. You know, I think I've still got the Dumbledore's...the DA list somewhere in my trunk, actually."

Harry grinned at her. It was the first time Hermione had called Dumbledore's Army the DA.

Harry gasped,"Blimey, was Colin there? When I asked you to Slughorn's party?"

"He must have been." Hermione shook her head,"I'm sure he enjoyed that, though." Harry looked at Hermione. She was already looking at him. "I know I did." Hermione added as a quiet afterthought.

Harry grinned and pointed at Hermione's bemused face in the picture,"See? You're not always right!"

"Oh, leave me alone." Hermione joked,"It was hard for me to take, you know, being wrong about that. I was furious at you, even before I found out you'd tricked me!"

"Maybe I'm not so thick after all." Harry winked.

"If you say so." Hermione laughed.

Harry almost had a heart attack as he turned the page,"No...no way...not a chance in hell was Colin there...no!"

"That's what I thought, too!" Hermione said exasperatedly,"But he must have been. It's an odd feeling, though, isn't it?"

"What?"

"That he was there." She sighed,"Always there. He was always just...in the right place at the right time, and he heard so much of what we said to each other...saw so much...I can't believe it."

"Oh, yeah, that. It is weird." Harry agreed,"Really weird, now that you mention it. I just...it's an invasion of privacy, sure, but I reckon I should...well...mind more than I do, you know?"

Hermione nodded,"I just wish he was still here. I wish we could ask him what...why he was...oh, you know."

"Yeah, I do." Harry squeezed her shoulders.

After having seen the rest of the pictures, Harry wasn't surprised to see this at all. He just broke into a smile as the memory of the pair's conversation on the astronomy tower flooded back into his mind.

"I know." Hermione whispered, making Harry jump. She was wearing the same expression as he was: dewy-eyed and pink-faced.

Something clicked inside of Harry's mind as he closed the photo album and he suddenly wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his birthday with her in the attic room, talking and kissing and Merlin knew what else, but he couldn't. Molly and Hermione had made him a cake that was sitting in the kitchen waiting for him, just as the Weasley's all were, and Harry knew that he and Hermione would have to rejoin them at some point. Harry stole a kiss which Hermione happily returned before they slipped downstairs, trying to hide the blush in their cheeks.

***********

A/N: this chapter is supposed to be filled with photos of Harry and Hermione through the years. If any of you can't see them, please tell me so that I can fix it! Also, if you can see them, pretend they're moving like Wizarding pictures should do; I couldn't make them into gifs myself, so you'll just have to imagine it! I have also just discovered that there is a twenty photo per chapter restriction on Wattpad, how fun! I've had to narrow my (massive!) collection of photos down to just twenty, which is a pain, but I hope you still enjoy them all! Love you, readers xxx